


Records

by xofunghoul



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Crush, Friends to Lovers, M/M, borhap filming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22103299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xofunghoul/pseuds/xofunghoul
Summary: Filming Borhap is going great for Ben and he's particularly fond of one of his coworkers.
Relationships: Ben Hardy & Joe Mazzello, Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello
Comments: 14
Kudos: 35
Collections: Hardzzello Week 2019





	Records

**Author's Note:**

> One shot for the prompt "Records" of Day 5 of Hardzzello week!  
> (This could be read as a prequel to Parallel Hearts)

It’s about 9pm and Ben is busy in his kitchen making himself something to eat after a hard day of work, humming contentedly to some Queen. He’s been working on Bohemian Rhapsody for a few weeks now, already met his castmates,  _ the band _ as they like to call themselves, and surprisingly clicked immediately with them as if they’ve known each other forever, even though he’s at least 8 years younger than the other three. Well at least he’s older than Lucy, that should count for something. But generally everything is going great and all the stress about lying to get the role seems to be paying off. 

He raises an eyebrow when the doorbell of the house rings so he turns the kitchen off, cleans his hands on a cloth and walks towards his front door. When he opens it, what he finds behind it is the box of a vinyl record right in front of his face. He chuckles and immediately, the record is replace by Joe’s grin. 

“Oh no.” Ben says maybe a bit dramatically but he knows it’s what Joe is expecting.

“You know we have to at some point.” 

“Well, if we absolutely must then come on in.” 

The record that Joe is holding in his hands is none other than Queen’s mostly criticized 1982 Hot Space. They’ve read about it, heard stories about it and listened to one or two songs, of course the masterpiece Under Pressure being one of them but they haven’t heard the whole thing yet. They’ve been doing this together for a while now. Listen to Queen albums, analyzing them, analyzing how Roger and Deaky work together so they have an understanding of the dynamic of one of the most powerful rhythm sections in rock history. No one quite does it like Roger Taylor and John Deacon, they’ve learn so far, and they also had a pretty unique relationship, being the youngest two of the group. Quite the underrated duo they make which had both Joe and Ben a little bit fascinated if not maybe a little hyperfixated. 

“Don’t laugh.” Ben says as he walks Joe in and, now, permed man, follows him inside. “I was making myself something to eat.”

“Okay-- why would I laugh?” Joe asks as he follows him into the kitchen.

“I’m a grown man that sometimes makes himself breakfast food for dinner.” Ben goes back to the pan he left unattended and restarts the fire to finish the eggs he was making. Joe does in fact laugh a little. “Didn’t I just ask you not to laugh?” he says but he’s also laughing along with him. 

“I can’t judge you at all. I don’t even cook myself. I mean, I know the basics, my mother raised me well after all. I just hate it and I suck at it so I don’t do it.”

“So you always eat take out?” Ben frowns and following, he points with his head to the fridge. “Grab me a few more eggs. You didn’t eat right?”

“No, I didn’t. I was gonna suggest we ordered something but I can totally have breakfast for dinner.” Joe says while he does as Ben told him and collects a couple more eggs from Ben’s fridge and takes them back to him. “And yeah, I do take out or I eat outside.”

“That’s not very healthy, you know?”

“What can I say? I’m a dangerous man.”

Ben laughs and shakes his head. Joe is an idiot half the time when they’re not working. And he found not long ago that there’s something somewhat endearing about that. Or at least it is to him. He’s constantly around the man, from the whole group he’s the one with whom he clicked the fastest and easiest, second close is Gwil. But there’s something about Joe-- okay maybe Ben has a little man crush on him. Maybe. Perhaps. Not 100% sure. But he does like his company and he particularly likes it when it’s just them and he has Joe’s whole attention to him. Maybe it doesn’t help that he’s broke up with his girlfriend recently and Joe is a very attentive person that makes you feel like you’re the only person in the room or even the world whenever he’s talking to you or you to him. It’s a little too convenient to find someone like him when he’s feeling heartbroken and maybe he enjoys the attention a little too much. But it’s not like the feeling is mutual or anything so it’s not really important, he feels good and it’s all that matters. 

After a few minutes, the cheesy eggs are done, the bread is toasted, the sausages are grilled and they’re ready to eat so they take all the food that’s been carefully prepared and some butter to the coffee table in the living room where the record player is. While Ben goes back to the kitchen and comes back with two bottles of beer, Joe is putting Hot Space on.  _ Staying Power _ sounds through the speakers while they finally sit in front of the table on the floor. Ben takes his phone out, as he usually does, and looks for the lyrics of the songs and who wrote it. 

“Okay, this is a Freddie one.” He announces, hums and mumbles a few lines while he reads through and he’s shaking his head to the beat, pouting without noticing. When he looks up, Joe’s watching him with a smile on his face. “What?”

“You really like this one.” Joe sounds surprised and maybe with reason too, after all up to date, his favorite two Queen songs are  _ Liar _ and  _ White Queen _ which could not be any more different than what they’re listening to right now.

“Yeah, it’s fun.” Ben shrugs and Joe laughs, “What!”

“Nothing! I just didn’t expect you to enjoy this, this much.”

“I’m not going to be bullied for liking a little bit of pop. I’m telling you that now.” Ben says in a pretend threatening tone. 

“Oh I would never.” Joe says scandalized but after a pause, he adds. “But I’m going to use it against you.” 

They both laugh at that. And they eat, and drink, and sing, Ben smokes from time to time and they just enjoy themselves while Queen plays in the background. Sometimes they go back to a song they like particularly, like  _ Action This Day _ , they both liked that one so much that after they’re done listening to the album, Joe is singing it while they clean up and do the dishes. When they go back to the living room, they give the album a couple more listenings because they actually really enjoyed it. Ben sometimes sit at the drums to try and get some beats out of a song. Even Joe tries it which is hilarious at first but after some coaching from Ben, he’s actually not that bad for it to be his first time playing the drums, Ben didn’t do much better his first time. 

“See? I told you anyone can be a drummer.” Joe says cocky to Ben and Ben kicks him out of his drums for being so rude. 

The next time they look at the time they have no idea how it got so late. It’s around 3am and they have an early morning in, actually, about 4 hours. When Joe is about to reach for his phone to get himself an Uber back to the hotel, Ben clears his throat.

“Why don’t you-- um. You could just stay. I get a car in the morning, they pick me up from the studio. You could sneak in a bit more sleep.”

“Really? You don’t mind?”

“Of course not. My couch, your couch. Or you can take my bed if you want.” 

“Your couch is more than fine.” 

“Let me get you something to change into. And I think I have a spare toothbrush in the bathroom drawer.” 

“That sounds great actually Ben, thank you.” 

“It’s nothing, mate, don’t worry about it.” 

Ben moves quickly and away to set to do what he said he was going to do in part so they get some sleep but also because he could feel himself blushing a little at Joe thanking him like that and he has to tell himself to get it together, that they’re just friends. While Joe is using the bathroom, Ben makes a makeshift bed of the couch with some pillows he took from his bed and bed sheets and a duvet for Joe to sleep comfortably there. 

“Really, Ben, this is so nice of you. I feel like I should tip you or something.”

“Don’t be daft, it’s nothing. My room is just down the hall, just in case. But if you need anything, really just make yourself at home.” 

There’s a moment where Joe doesn’t say anything, just looks at him with a tight lipped endearing smile and something in the pit of his stomach flips a little so that’s his cue to make his way out of that living room before he starts blushing like the moron he feels like right now.

“Alright then, goodnight.”

“Night,  _ Benny. _ ” 

Joe says as he tucks himself in the makeshift bed that’s his couch, he has his eyes closed and he looks content and Ben stays over to look at him, maybe for a few seconds too long, before he finally turns off the lights and leaves to his room. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think in the comments!


End file.
